Prep football starts way too early

When one West Tennessee football coach was told that his team would get to practice in helmets and shoulder pads a week earlier this year he had an innocent question.

You are going to give us an extra week of practice in pads while you have a heat index policy in place?

Yes, I know. Sounds kind of crazy, doesn't it?

The TSSAA Board of Control voted unanimously this past week to allow Tennessee prep football teams to practice a minimum three days of practice in helmets and shoulder pads beginning July 22. On July 29, football teams can practice in full pads as long as those athletes have participated in three days of helmets and shoulder pads.

The reasoning behind the rule is it gives high school football players time to acclimate to the hot summer temperatures.

Blackman football coach Philip Shadowens said what that rule essentially does is permit coaches another week of football practice.

Prior to the rule, teams could only practice in helmets after the TSSAA dead period ends until the first week of full pads begins.

"If you are just out in helmets, you are truly working on throwing and catching," Shadowens said. "You can implement special teams and some blocking schemes, but you don't go full speed and there is no contact at all.

"Putting shoulder pads on changes everything you can get done. You can practice at full speed."

Shadowens and many teams practice in helmets and shoulder pads often during the season. Shadowens said once games begin his Blaze team normally practices in full pads just one time a week, while practicing in shoulder pads and helmets the rest of the time. It helps cut down the risk of injury in practice.

"You can get everything done but tackle to the ground in helmets and shoulder pads," Shadowens said. "You can go full speed. You can work on our defensive secondary. You just want to keep people off the ground.

"That's my problem with (the rule). It's just another week to have to practice full-speed football. I don't see the advantage of doing it that way."

The Board of Control continues to ignore the real reason the heat is such an issue.

Folks, the prep football season starts too early.

Talk to about any veteran football coach and they will say the same thing. The season needs to be pushed back two weeks. Get it closer to Labor Day. Many would even be willing to trim off a week of the football playoffs if that's what it would take to push back the start of the season.

The argument in pushing back the season is that it would affect the start of the high school basketball season and other winter sports. But does it have to?

Why not push the start of winter and spring sports back a week. It would push back the end of the high school spring sport season to the start of June. However, other states currently do that now.

If the TSSAA wants to be serious about the heat issue, begin to tackle it head on.

Tom Kreager is prep editor of The Daily News Journal. Contact him at 615-278-5168 or tkreager@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kreager.

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Prep football starts way too early

When one West Tennessee football coach was told that his team would get to practice in helmets and shoulder pads a week earlier this year he had an innocent question.